Health

Farisa, who has relapsed into malnutrition, plays on a mat inside her house in Kware Sokoto, northwestern Nigeria, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigerian children pay the price for the Iran war as malnutrition and poverty surge

Ope Adetayo, The Associated Press 6 minute read 12:15 AM CDT

SOKOTO, Nigeria (AP) — Maryam Aminu was hardly surprised when the last of her six children was diagnosed with malnutrition in April for a second time. She was barely feeding the 18-month-old regularly, let alone with nutritious foods.

Although the family in northwest Nigeria has struggled with economic hardship, their situation deteriorated after February, when her husband, Shehu Aminu, lost his job as a taxi driver due to a spike in the retail price of petrol caused by the war in Iran.

“When she was diagnosed the second time, even though I suspected it, I was sad and angry because I knew why,” Aminu said in the living area of their unvarnished two-bedroom house in the quiet town of Kware, Sokoto, as ash from the coal stove billowed into the room. “Times are tough, and the food is not consistent.”

Children relapsing into malnutrition has become an increasingly common occurrence in the state and across northern Nigeria, according to local health and aid workers, who cite knock-on effects from the Iran war.

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Health

This undated photo taken through a microscope provided by the CDC shows Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts found in a fresh stool sample which had been prepared with a formalin solution and stained with safranin. (CDC via AP)

Taco Bell in Canada says its lettuce is safe to eat amid cyclospora outbreak in U.S.

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Taco Bell in Canada says its lettuce is safe to eat amid cyclospora outbreak in U.S.

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 5:46 PM CDT

Taco Bell in Canada says the lettuce that has caused an outbreak of the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora in the United States has not been served at its locations.

The company made the announcement in a social media post after lettuce served at five Taco Bell restaurants in American states -- Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia -- was identified as a source of the outbreak.

Data from the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests nearly 7,000 people have become sick since May.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says it's not investigating any cyclospora outbreaks but there is typically an increase in infections in the spring and summer linked to imported fruits and vegetables.

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Yesterday at 5:46 PM CDT

Health

Taylor Farms recalls lettuce shipped to 27 states over cyclospora risk

Savannah Peters, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Taylor Farms recalls lettuce shipped to 27 states over cyclospora risk

Savannah Peters, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:03 PM CDT

Taylor Farms has expanded a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico because of a potential link to the multistate cyclospora outbreak that has sickened people across the U.S.

Products with the potential to be contaminated with the diarrhea-causing parasite were shipped to 27 states including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New Jersey, the California-based company said in a statement Friday.

“We are actively removing the implicated products,” the statement said, adding that the company has stopped sourcing lettuce from an implicated lot in central Mexico.

U.S. health officials earlier this week identified lettuce from a supplier in Mexico as a source of cyclospora contamination in food served at Taco Bell restaurants in five Midwestern states.

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Updated: Yesterday at 6:03 PM CDT

Health

Safety fears limit Ebola response in Congo, with more than 12 attacks recorded

Prosper Heri Ngorora And Constant Same Bagalwa, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Safety fears limit Ebola response in Congo, with more than 12 attacks recorded

Prosper Heri Ngorora And Constant Same Bagalwa, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:58 AM CDT

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — At least a dozen attacks on health facilities and workers have been recorded during Congo's Ebola outbreak as safety fears restrict the response in the worst-affected region, authorities said Saturday.

Many health workers and other frontline workers in Ituri province have also gone on strike over unpaid salaries, further complicating response efforts in what’s been declared the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. So far 2,181 cases have been recorded, including 864 deaths.

The Bundibugyo virus responsible for this outbreak is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment.

Many of the attacks have been carried out by angry mobs who have stormed treatment centers or targeted response teams in the field, Pierre Akilimali, incident manager for the Ebola response, said at a press briefing in Bunia, the capital of Ituri.

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:58 AM CDT

Environment

People opposed to AI data centres demonstrate outside council chambers at city hall in Hamilton, Ont., on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

Opposition brewing as data centre capacity is set to explode across Canada

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 9 minute read Preview

Opposition brewing as data centre capacity is set to explode across Canada

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 9 minute read Yesterday at 5:00 AM CDT

OTTAWA - Across Canada, plans are underway for a massive boom in construction of the huge new data centres needed for artificial intelligence technology.

But opposition is also building as residents worry about how the facilities will affect their communities — and as the data centres themselves become a symbol of the anxieties swirling around AI.

"An AI data centre is like the physical avatar of AI. And so it's just like concrete and steel, physical space of a technology that increasingly I think Canadians are worried is going to have a really disruptive impact on their lives," said David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data.

"The local concerns are tied to the resources that these data centres consume. So it's about electricity, it's about water, it’s about noise."

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Yesterday at 5:00 AM CDT

Faith

FILE - Schoolgirls walk home past a mural from the women's organization Plan International in Freetown, Sierra Leone, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly, File)

Takeaways from AP’s report on the impact of US aid restrictions on reproductive rights in Africa

Monika Pronczuk, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Takeaways from AP’s report on the impact of US aid restrictions on reproductive rights in Africa

Monika Pronczuk, The Associated Press 5 minute read Yesterday at 12:16 AM CDT

KISUMU, Kenya (AP) — The abortion debate in America is putting lives of women thousands of miles away at risk, particularly in Africa.

For decades, U.S. anti-abortion groups have lobbied for more restrictions on abortion at home and abroad. This year, the Trump administration delivered new momentum to the movement exporting “family values” overseas. It announced sweeping restrictions on U.S. funding for organizations that work on abortion-related issues overseas, which can impact up to $30 billion in aid.

These new restrictions build on the work that U.S. anti-abortion groups have been doing for years in Africa, where healthcare systems are highly dependent on foreign funding.

An analysis by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change found that 17 U.S. anti-abortion nonprofit groups spent more than $9.3 million across Africa in 2023 and 2024. That's on top of $16 million they sent to the continent from 2019 to 2022 — which is an underestimate, the researchers said.

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Yesterday at 12:16 AM CDT

Faith

FILE - A woman walks past a billboard promoting the Safe Motherhood Bill on Wilkinson Road in Freetown, Sierra Leone, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly, File)

Women are dying in Africa as US ramps up its global battle against abortion

Monika Pronczuk And Thalia Beaty, The Associated Press 12 minute read Preview

Women are dying in Africa as US ramps up its global battle against abortion

Monika Pronczuk And Thalia Beaty, The Associated Press 12 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 2:42 AM CDT

KISUMU, Kenya (AP) — For decades, U.S. anti-abortion groups have lobbied domestically and abroad for restricting access to abortion. In the U.S., their biggest success was the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Now, the Trump administration is delivering new momentum to the movement exporting “family values” to nations overseas.

At anti-abortion activists’ annual March for Life demonstration in Washington, Vice President JD Vance announced sweeping new restrictions on U.S. funding for nongovernmental organizations, foreign governments and U.N. agencies that promote access to abortion, gender-affirming care and diversity initiatives overseas.

“We’re going to start blocking every international NGO that performs or promotes abortion abroad from receiving a dollar of U.S. money,” Vance told the crowd in January.

The expanded restrictions build on the anti-abortion advocacy work carried out by conservative U.S. nonprofits abroad — especially in Africa, where healthcare is highly dependent on foreign aid. The region has the world’s highest estimated proportion of unsafe abortions and highest maternal mortality rates — including the highest number of maternal deaths per 100,000 abortions.

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Updated: Yesterday at 2:42 AM CDT

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Health

Cut the number of choices you make each day. Your brain will thank you

Albert Stumm, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Cut the number of choices you make each day. Your brain will thank you

Albert Stumm, The Associated Press 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Jeans that fit perfectly. The ideal Netflix show for a Tuesday night. Your one and only soulmate. Modern life promises that with enough options, you will happily find the best of everything.

But behavioral scientists say the increasing flood of choices — whether it comes to shopping, social lives or relationships — is doing the opposite.

The idea that more choice is better is baked into Western culture, but research shows that having more options can make people anxious, indecisive and, paradoxically, less happy with what they pick, said Barry Schwartz, an emeritus psychology professor at Swarthmore University and author of “The Paradox of Choice.”

“There have been hundreds of studies showing that there can be too much of a good thing,” Schwartz said.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Health

FILE -Signage for the Provo Canyon School in Springville, Utah, is pictured June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum, File)

License revoked for boarding school in Utah where Paris Hilton says she was abused as a teen

The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

License revoked for boarding school in Utah where Paris Hilton says she was abused as a teen

The Associated Press 3 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah revoked another campus license on Friday for the boarding school where Paris Hilton said she was abused as a teenager, marking a major victory in the hotel heiress’ yearslong effort to get the school shut down.

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services' decision cites a multitude of noncompliance citations in 2026 for the Provo Canyon School’s Provo campus, including not protecting “a client from potential harm or acts of violence,” and “using cruel and unnecessary practice on a child." More than a dozen of the citations were noted on Friday.

“No child should be hurt in a program that is meant to protect them; particularly programs that require the authorization of the state to operate,” Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the division of licensing and background checks at the health and human services department, said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the state revoked the license for the Provo Canyon School’s other campus in Utah, saying the school has “failed to provide applicable health and safety services for clients.”

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Health

FILE - This 1978 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Legionella pneumophila bacteria which are responsible for causing the pneumonic disease Legionnaires' disease. (Francis Chandler/CDC via AP, File)

First death reported in Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in New York City

Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

First death reported in Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in New York City

Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press 2 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — A Legionnaires' disease outbreak that has sickened dozens of people in New York City has claimed its first life, health officials said Friday.

Officials didn't release additional information about the person's identity, age or details on when and how they fell ill.

Investigators are still trying to pinpoint the source of the outbreak on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that has infected at least 67 people and hospitalized dozens, according to city Health Department data. Much of the scrutiny has focused on the air conditioning systems atop many large buildings, which can release water vapor carrying the bacteria.

Legionnaires’ disease, a form of pneumonia, is treatable but kills about 10% of patients, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, seven people died and more than 100 were sickened during an outbreak in New York’s Harlem neighborhood.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Health

FILE - South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks before President Donald Trump at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Friday, July 3, 2026, near Keystone, S.D. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Judge blocks South Dakota abortion advertising ban against nonprofit

Sarah Raza, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Judge blocks South Dakota abortion advertising ban against nonprofit

Sarah Raza, The Associated Press 2 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota cannot enforce its abortion advertising ban against a reproductive health nonprofit, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler issued a preliminary injunction blocking South Dakota from enforcing the recently adopted state law against New York-based Mayday Health and plaintiff Nancy Turbak Berry. The judge said the nonprofit was likely to win the case.

Signed in March, the law prohibits the distribution and advertisement for unlawful abortion services, like abortion pills, in South Dakota. Friday’s ruling does not strike down the law.

The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in May against Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden and Attorney General Marty Jackley, arguing the abortion advertising ban violates freedom of speech. In the Friday ruling, the judge wrote that the state did not attempt to prove the law met strict scrutiny — that the law both served a compelling government interest and was narrowly tailored.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Health

No cyclospora outbreaks reported or tainted lettuce sold in Canada, officials say

The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

No cyclospora outbreaks reported or tainted lettuce sold in Canada, officials say

The Canadian Press 3 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

OTTAWA - Federal officials say there have been no outbreaks of the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora in Canada and that no lettuce implicated in an ongoing U.S. outbreak has been distributed in the country.

Iceberg lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell restaurants in five American states has been identified as a source of the outbreak.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning people not to eat shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bells in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday that it's in contact with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and reviewing information provided by American authorities.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Health

Jeremy Morrison, who says he was sent home with the wrong parents after he was born, shows what he believes is a baby photo of him, left, and of the other baby he says was switched at birth while recounting the story at his home in Colorado City, Colo., on Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Men sue hospital after DNA tests showed they were switched at birth 38 years ago

Mikella Schuettler, Thomas Peipert And Gene Johnson, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Men sue hospital after DNA tests showed they were switched at birth 38 years ago

Mikella Schuettler, Thomas Peipert And Gene Johnson, The Associated Press 6 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

COLORADO CITY, Colo. (AP) — The families of two men who discovered through DNA tests that they were switched at birth 38 years ago are accusing a North Dakota hospital of robbing them of the lives they were supposed to lead.

Kyle Bylin discovered his birth family after taking an at-home test he chose randomly during a Christmas gift-exchange. That led to his biological aunt on a genealogy platform. Her nephew, Jeremy Morrison, then had his DNA tested. The results were irrefutable.

“That’s when my mind was just completely blown,” Bylin said. “We could have never imagined that it was an actual birth switch that occurred.”

Morrison said he was convinced as soon as he saw a photo of Bylin's brother and realized they looked very much alike.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Environment

The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the U.S. Capitol, are barely visible from an overlook in Arlington, Va., as heavy smoke from wildfires shrouds the landscape in Washington, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes farther into the US and engulfs DC in haze

Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes farther into the US and engulfs DC in haze

Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:15 AM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states muddled through another day of unhealthy air from uncontrolled wildfires on Friday.

The thick smoke enveloped the nation’s capital in a gloomy, eerie haze and prompted Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians to postpone their game against Pittsburgh Pirates in Ohio.

Warnings of dangerous conditions were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., though there's potential for temporary improvement with storms forecast in some affected areas during the weekend.

D.C. resident Stewart Verdery awoke Friday to take in his usual sunrise view of the city's famous landmarks from a rooftop, only to be greeted by a darkened horizon and no monuments in sight.

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Updated: Yesterday at 7:15 AM CDT

Health

FILE - This undated photo taken through a microscope provided by the CDC shows Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts found in a fresh stool sample which had been prepared with a formalin solution and stained with safranin. (CDC via AP, File)

Foodborne illnesses at restaurant chains are rare but can sicken customers

Mae Anderson And Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Foodborne illnesses at restaurant chains are rare but can sicken customers

Mae Anderson And Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — Big U.S. restaurant chains don't get linked to foodborne illness outbreaks often, but the number of meals they serve causes a lot of concern when contamination of some kind sickens customers.

Federal health officials identified iceberg lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations in five states as a source of widespread infections from the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation identified a single supplier as the source of the suspect lettuce.

Taco Bell issued a statement on Thursday saying that “the affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.” The company described the move as precautionary.

A federal official who was briefed on the outbreak investigation and not authorized to discuss it identified the supplier as Taylor Farms, a company based in Salinas, California, that produces fresh vegetables for commercial use and meal kits and bagged lettuce products sold at supermarkets.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Environment

People look over the New York City skyline shrouded in smoke in Weehawken, N.J., Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Wildfire smoke kills tens of thousands of people a year. Here’s how it attacks the body

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Wildfire smoke kills tens of thousands of people a year. Here’s how it attacks the body

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press 6 minute read Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

Smoke from wildfires — which are burning more of the Northern Hemisphere as Earth warms — attacks nearly every system in the human body, killing tens of thousands of people a year, numerous medical studies show.

It attacks the body immediately, spiking asthma cases with increased ambulance runs within hours, swamps emergency rooms in a day or so with people suffering from heart attacks and other cardiovascular and lung issues, as well as mental health issues, doctors and scientists told The Associated Press.

Smoke also harms pregnant women, increasing the risk of premature births and low-weight babies who could have breathing problems the rest of their lives, doctors and studies say. And then there are long-term risks connecting prolonged smoke and other air pollution exposure to some cancers and dementia.

After huge global fires in 2018 and 2019, the medical and science communities started looking at the health effects from the smoke with “more and more studies coming out finding that there’s all types of impacts that may not have been so obvious before,” said Dr. Mary Johnson, a Harvard School of Public Health environmental health scientist.

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Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

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